ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A new study of health insurance in nine Chinese provinces shows that individual coverage surged within a two-year time frame, from 2004-2006, coinciding with new government interventions designed to improve access to health care.

The changes were most dramatic in rural areas, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and Brown University. The findings appear in the December issue of Health Affairs.

Lead author Hongwei Xu, a faculty fellow at the Survey Research Center, U-M's Institute for Social Research, and Brown University sociologist Susan Short analyzed data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, which follows households in nine provinces that are home to more than 40 percent of China's population.

They focused on patterns of coverage among rural and urban residents.

Their analysis shows that overall, the percentage of individuals in the sample with insurance increased from 24 percent in 1997 to 28 percent in 2004, then rose sharply to 49 percent in 2006. During that time period, rural and urban levels of insurance coverage became more similar. Xu and Short call the increase in rural areas "nothing short of dramatic," saying that it likely benefited millions of rural Chinese residents.

"There's been great concern about increasing inequality in China, and particularly urban-rural inequalities," Short said. "This work shows that at least in one sphere, health insurance coverage, urban-rural inequality may be decreasing."

The analysis revealed that levels and trends of health care coverage were significantly different depending on whether the individuals lived in urban or rural areas. In villages, the coverage rates declined from 1997 to 2000, while rates changed little in suburbs, cities, and towns during the same period. During that time, the government's efforts to establish a new rural insurance program were limited to a few pilot rural counties and did not include financial subsidies for the rural population.

However, after 2000, the coverage rate in villages began to rise, almost tripling between 2004 and 2006, from 17.9 percent to 51 percent. Rates also rose significantly in towns and suburbs during that time frame, but changed only modestly in cities. The dramatic rise in rural coverage rates coincided with the efforts to develop new insurance programs and provide increased subsidies for rural participants.

Short was surprised by the magnitude of change in rural villages. "It is especially impressive to see this pattern in data such as these, that follow the same individuals over time," she said. "We are witnessing real change in many people's lives in the way that urban, and especially rural, individuals experience health insurance coverage."

While the analysis shows higher rates of individual coverage, it also suggests that disparities may persist in the quality of insurance. Xu and Short found that residents of cities, suburbs, and towns experienced higher reimbursement rates for outpatient and inpatient care than insured villagers, indicating that insured urban residents continue to have an advantage over insured rural residents. However, the authors state that these results should be interpreted with caution due to incomplete self-reported reimbursement rates.

"The findings from this research highlight the recovery in health insurance coverage in general and more importantly the significant reduction in the rural-urban inequality in the coverage in particular, largely due to the great efforts by the Chinese government, in a quite short time period," Xu said. "On the other hand, the suggestive finding of continued rural disadvantage in terms of health insurance benefits suggests we should not overestimate the success of the policy interventions."

The researchers hope that the study will further inform understanding as China strives to improve health insurance coverage for its citizens.

Established in 1949, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research is the world's largest academic social science survey and research organization, and a world leader in developing and applying social science methodology and in educating researchers and students from around the world. ISR conducts some of the most widely cited studies in the nation, including the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, the American National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China and South Africa. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, the world's largest digital social science data archive.